Rescuing Abused Children: Can Congress Help Our Kids?

I
want to thank Heritage for having me here today to talk about child
welfare. Child abuse prevention is important to me on personal and
professional levels. I find it interesting that many in the media
find it puzzling that a conservative like me takes such interest in
children's issues. The simple fact is that child welfare has been a
one-party issue for too long.

We
have allowed the liberal paradigm to define the debate, and the
result is the false stereotyping of conservatives as not interested
in the suffering of this nation's at-risk kids. I will not accept
the notion that my affiliation with conservatism is inconsistent
with my passion for reforming the child welfare system. We must
begin to see that child welfare--beyond being a moral imperative
for each of us as individuals--is significant to the maintenance of
civil society.

The
breakdown of the family starts with children who are mistreated.
Without proper intervention and treatment, these kids grow up to
become criminals and, in turn, mistreat their own children. This
cycle of tragedy is apparent to anyone who is willing to take a
look. It used to be that churches, communities, and extended family
would intervene when a parent was incapable of caring for a child.
But for the modern family, these options are less readily available
and, thus, with the abdication of the alternative caregivers, a
government-run foster care system was established in many cases to
the further detriment of our children.

My
wife, Christine, and I became involved as foster parents when, as a
volunteer for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), Christine
tried for two weeks to find a home for an adolescent girl who had
been kicked out of her last foster home and couldn't find anyone
willing to take her. We realized if we didn't do it, nobody would.
We have two adolescents now, and continue to look for ways to
reform a system we believe to be inherently flawed. I am more
convinced now than ever that the social problems that take their
toll on society in terms of crime and higher taxes will be less
burdensome if our motto is prevention instead of cure. Children are
not, and cannot be seen as, simply another liberal policy
issue.

As a
conservative legislator, addressing child welfare is the truest
expression of my convictions. The challenge before us at the
federal level is to craft legislation that will alleviate the
suffering of our children while simultaneously giving states
flexibility with standards, decreasing the tax burden by spending
money wisely, eradicating the culture of dependency, and
stimulating volunteerism and community involvement.

This
all can be done, and I want to talk to you about some of the
initiatives this Congress has considered and is considering that I
believe will do all the above.

So
often we talk about this issue in terms of projections and numbers.
But first, let me tell you a story that might bring the reality of
a typical foster child into focus:12-year-old "Jason" was in the
back seat of the car with his 8-year-old sister, "Jane," 2 years
ago this month. He closed his eyes as the car wove and sped through
intersections, and plugged his ears to block out the screams of his
mother in the front passenger seat. His father was drunk, and was
attempting to drive the family home from the store. He was angry
with the children's mother for questioning his ability to drive
while intoxicated, and was burning her thigh and arm with a
cigarette lighter. The car ended up in a ditch, and the children,
when it was discovered that their bodies were covered with similar
burns and multiple, intentionally inflicted bruises, were placed in
foster care.

When
the social worker began interviewing the children, she asked Jason
about his relationship with his father. "He doesn't give a damn
about me," he said, his voice cracking. He went on to describe his
father's brutal treatment, stopping his words only long enough to
illustrate them by pointing to the numerous scars all over his
small body. The social worker soon discovered that the child had
been in and out of foster homes for years. His father had
established a pattern of showing remorse in court for his behavior,
reuniting with his children, and then physically and emotionally
abusing them again. Jason, not surprisingly, was failing in school,
had taken to shoplifting, and was starting to use alcohol
himself.

This
is an actual case Autumn, a member of my staff who is a former
Child Protective Services worker, investigated in Virginia. Not
only is this story real, it's not an exception, and it is not as
bad as it could be. My wife, Christine, a CASA volunteer, has had
six cases in the past few years that have been worse. This case
depicts for us the failure of government to intervene effectively
on Jason's behalf and underscores the need for the reform of a
system that unwittingly contributes to the cycle of violence,
neglect, and delinquency that threatens our future by destroying
the lives of our children.

The
court, social services, and law enforcement had to send Jason home
with his dad time after time under the federal mandate that
requires that states to make "reasonable efforts" to reunite
families that have mistreated their children. Time after time,
Jason's father beat him up; and, time after time, Jason was removed
from his own home and sent to live with strangers (and different
strangers each time) in foster care. Jason is now 14, and without
stability in his environment; and, with the stripping away of any
trust or respect for the authority figures in his life, he becomes
a statistic--an "at-risk" child who, by virtue of his age and
emotional problems, is considered "unadoptable" by the time the
state decides his father's parental rights can be terminated.

So
what happens to Jason now? He stays in foster care because his
mother won't leave his father, and there are no relatives who will
accept him, either. Statistics show that, with his history, Jason
is likely to drop out of school, use alcohol and drugs, father
children at a young age, abuse his own children, and become a
felon. The cycle of destruction begins again, and our tax dollars
are used to support Jason from foster care to prison, however long
that process takes. How can we help Jason?

First and foremost, an all-out effort must
be put forth to encourage adoption over foster care. There are many
capable, caring couples looking for children to nurture. Of course,
we know that there are too many young ones who desperately need a
home. New efforts should be concentrated to bring these couples and
these kids together to make permanent families. After all, caring
families--especially adoptive ones--are better than government
programs.

As
with most social problems, program costs often skyrocket without
any evidence that they are even working. Oversight of these large
programs is often lacking, and so are fresh ideas. Sometimes, it is
clear that the most effective reform by the federal government is
simply to cut red tape and make it easier for local communities to
improve situations they understand best. One size does not fit all,
and each state and community will have different needs that must be
met accordingly.

Congress made progress toward helping
Jason and others like him in April 1997 with the passage of the
Adoption and Safe Families Act, which was signed into law by
President Bill Clinton in November 1997. One provision of the bill,
entitled Termination of Parental Rights, stipulates that states
must initiate proceedings to terminate parental rights after a
child has been in foster care for 15 of the previous 22 months,
except in specified circumstances. The states' "reasonable effort"
requirement has been rewritten to ensure that such efforts make the
health and safety of the child paramount. States are not required
to make efforts to keep families together in cases of "aggravated
circumstances" (such as abandonment, torture, chronic abuse, and
sexual abuse), murder, or assault of another of their children. We
must continue to press for vigilance in pursuit of early
termination and immediate adoption.

Difficult circumstances await Jason--and
thousands of others like him--if they are not adopted before age
18. At 18, Jason will be released--or, to use social service lingo,
"emancipated"--from foster care. After being bounced from home to
home, where at least his basic needs were met, he suddenly will be
on his own.

Jason may not have finished high school,
is highly likely to be deficient in fundamental living skills like
cooking, balancing a checkbook and driving a car, and probably will
not be employable. He not only is leaving the only support
structure he has ever known, but he also is leaving behind housing
and Medicaid as well. Not only is he at risk to become homeless,
but he also will be forced to go "cold turkey" off whatever
medication he is on--including medication to stabilize his mental
health.

In
effect, we are sentencing Johnny to failure and chronic dependency
on government if we do not arm him with the skills and resources he
needs as he transitions out of foster care. We have seen the
results time and again: young adults--formerly foster children--on
welfare, homeless, and in prison.

I am
pleased that the House passed the Foster Care Independence Act of
1999 on June 25, 1999, by a vote of 380 to 6. Sponsored by my
colleagues Nancy Johnson (R-CT) and Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), this
legislation, by tightening up loopholes in other programs, would
double the money available to states to help children leaving
foster care to establish themselves as self-reliant adults. Instead
of the current "optional" preparedness programs, this legislation
would require that states conduct classes and training sessions for
adolescents before they leave foster care, and for adolescents who
have just been emancipated. Finally, it would ask states to ensure
that every adolescent in foster care at age 18 either gets a job or
attends college; and it would amend Medicaid law so that the 18-,
19-, and 20-year-olds who leave care will still be eligible for
coverage.

I
testified about my personal experience with our foster daughter on
this issue, and I call on the Senate and the Clinton Administration
to ensure that this bill becomes law.

Another effort Congress will undertake
this year is passage of the Child Abuse Prevention and Enforcement
(CAPE) Act. This bill would work to ameliorate the conditions faced
by our children at risk while simultaneously increasing flexibility
as far as state access to federal funding is concerned.

Scheduled for consideration before the
House in early fall, the CAPE Act was introduced by my friend and
colleague, Deborah Pryce (R-OH). I joined her as an original
co-sponsor of this legislation, which has been endorsed by groups
ranging from the Child Welfare League of America to the Family
Research Council.

The
CAPE Act would permit state and local officials to use Byrne law
enforcement grants for child abuse prevention if they so chose; it
would double the earmark in the Crime Victims Fund for Child Abuse
Victims from $10 million to $20 million--all of which would come
from forfeited assets, not taxpayer dollars. This funding could be
used by states for important things such as training for CASA
volunteers and Child Protective Services workers.

I
believe that the federal government has a very limited but
important role to play in addressing the social problems presented
by child abuse and neglect. The legislation discussed here today
constitutes some important steps toward reform and increased
flexibility. The next and most important steps involve you and me
on a personal level--in our communities and in our homes.

As
private citizens, we must step in where government continues to
fail.

In
the United States, there are more than 770 court-appointed
volunteer programs, with 47,107 volunteers who provide millions of
private-sector hours and court advocacy for abused children. In
Texas, it is estimated that Court Advocate Programs save the
federal and state governments over $80 million a year because we
reduce the time children spend in foster care and expedite needed
services. What works best are locally based solutions that involve
local citizens working with local children on a face-to-face,
person-to-person basis.

For
the past two years, my wife and I have had three foster kids in our
home and have been involved as volunteers for CASA. We believe
that, as public figures, we have a responsibility to talk about our
involvement with the hope that our stories might encourage others
to get involved as well.

Our
campaign, "Shine the Light on Children in the Darkness," is an
attempt to raise awareness about the opportunities available for
people who want to make a difference in their communities.

The
bottom line is that every child deserves a safe, permanent home.
Foster care is meant to be a temporary safe haven, not a way of
life for a child whose parents can get it together for only a few
months at a time. Unfortunately, foster care has become a way of
life, a culture that must be incrementally changed as we seek to
reform, and ultimately replace, this flawed system. The Adoption
and Safe Families Act, the Foster Care Reform Act of 1999, and the
Child Abuse Prevention and Enforcement Act are springboards for
progress.

But
more must be done. New ideas need to be formulated. New initiatives
must be developed. New efforts must be tried. In the immediate
future, we need more private alternatives to the public
foster care treadmill.

The
role of the private sector in this effort is often overlooked and
its potential is underestimated. There is only so much the
bureaucratic machine can do, but there are no limits to the impact
each of us can have individually in our communities. The strength
of America, the true greatness of America, is in the moral fiber of
its people, in the integrity of its leaders--and this is exposed by
how we treat those who are most vulnerable in our midst. Today,
there are none more vulnerable in our society, none heard less,
than children suffering from abuse and neglect. We must be their
voice, and we must, as individuals, churches, synagogues, and
communities, reclaim the responsibility for them.

In
my public career, and in the work of all of you here today, nothing
is more important to the future of this great nation than the
betterment of all of our nation's children.

Tom DeLay, Majority Whip
of the House of Representatives, also represents the 22nd
Congressional District of Texas. He was elected to the U.S. House
of Representatives in 1984 after serving in the Texas House of
Representatives. Mr. DeLay serves on the House Appropriations
Committee. The DeLays are foster parents to two teenagers, and they
have long been active in Court Appointed Special Advocates.

Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) says it's "a great way to start the day for any conservative who wants to get America back on track."

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